Monthly Archives

Syndicate

Todd Pletcher, winning trainer of Corfu (No. 4): "I thought [Wired Bryan] certainly would have been one of the horses, if not the horse, to beat. [Wired Bryan] ran a courageous race; we were just on the fortunate side of the head bob."

"We've liked [Corfu] all along since we purchased him at Barretts. We felt like he was a very fast horse there, and we felt like he was a precocious 2-year-old. We're happy to get him started here and happy to have him win first time out. We were monitoring pretty closely how he bounced out of his maiden race and just wanted to decide whether we could turn him back on fairly short rest. He came back with a very good breeze, and I felt like that was the answer we were looking for. Luckily, he showed up today and had enough to hold on in a pretty fast race."

On competing against his former assistant, Michael Dilger: "The situation I'm in and Wayne [Lukas is] in, we compete against each other. With the family tree Wayne has created, we're competing against [former assistants] George Weaver, Michelle Nihei, [and] Michael Dilger now. When you look at all the guys like Mike Maker, Dallas Stewart, Mark Hennig, and Kiaran McLaughlin that all come out of the Wayne Lukas tree, it's one of those things. We're going to run against those guys a lot. Like always, we're competitive, and when we can't win, we're rooting for those guys."

John Velazquez, winning jockey aboard Corfu (No. 4): "Obviously, he needed to improve for this race, and he did it. For having just one race and to come back to perform the way he did today, I am proud. He held on after going as fast as they were going all the way around. You've got to take your hat off to him when the horse keeps running like that. We knew he is fast. That's the way he won the first time out. We were hoping to get a little bit of a break, but we didn't. We were rolling all the way around with the other horse next to me. But that's part of racing."

Michael Dilger, trainer of runner-up Wired Bryan (No. 7): "I thought this was a scenario that might happen. I am very, very proud of our horse. He ran a great race. I was disappointed not to win. That was the closest thing to a dead heat that I've ever seen. We are very happy with him. [Despite the quick turnaround] he was doing very well. I don't know where we are headed next. We will decide tomorrow morning."

Shaun Bridgmohan, jockey aboard runner-up Wired Bryan (No. 7): "He was trying; the wire just came up a little bit soon for him. I thought he ran his eyeballs out. They both ran to the wire. It's just unfortunate he got out-bobbed today. He is a pretty smart horse, and he waits for your command. He's very professional, that horse. I was riding hard and had my head down, but when I picked it up I saw that I didn't quite get there."